Fluid seal



P; AUDEMAR 2,711,332 FLUID SEAL June 21,1955

Filed March 24, 1954 A I United States w rO 1,711,332 FLUID SEAL Pierre Audemar, Mulhouse, France, assignor to Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques, Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France, a French company Application March 24, 1954, Serial No. 418,452 Claims priority, application France September 15, 1953 1 Claim. crass-9 This invention relates to seals for preventing leakage of fluid between a wall of the casing of a machine such as a pump, a turbine etc. and a rotating shaft accommodated through an opening in said wall. .i

Seals (hereinafter called liquid seals) are known in which a liquid is rotated in an annular retaining channel provided in said casing and communicating with said opening so that a pressure is centrifugally generated in Y the liquid sufficient to prevent leakage of fluidthrough the said retaining channel. a

'The rotation of the liquid in the annular reetaining channel may be caused by an impellerrotated therein.

Liquid seals of this kind are. usefully employed for seal-.

ing purposes where friction losses must be reduced to a minimum, but hitherto they have suffered from v the disadvantage that leakage occursfwhen the centrifugallyv even prohibitive in contact seals 'subjectto high leakage pressures or high relative speeds of rotation or a combination of both conditions.

An object of the persent invention is to provide between an opening in a casing wall and a rotating shaft accommodated therethrough an improved seal which shall comprise, in combination, a liquid seal operative above a certain speed of the shaft and a contact seal operative exclusively under a speed at least equal to the first mentioned one, so that tightness is ensured at any time, without objectionable frictions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sealing device of the type described, in which the suppression of the friction of the contact seal is caused directly by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the shaft, once said centrifugal force has reached a suflicient value to create the annular liquid seal.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a combined sealing device of the type described, a contact seal constituted by a ring applied at rest on a stationary sleeve surrounding the shaft by its inner cylindrical surface, i. e. on an area which is very reduced with respect to the annular area of contactiof the above-described known frusto-conical sealing washer, said inner surface of the ring sealing member according to the invention being taken off said sleeve under the action of centrifugal force by a radial deformation, i. e. in the very direction of said centrifugal force.

Still another object of the invention is to providea combined seal of the type described in which the im peller generating the liquid seal is formed with an inner chamber in which the ring seal is so mounted as to be freely deformable while being rotatable with said impeller around a fixed cylindrical sleeve maintainin shaft, said chamber having diametral walls which con- U stitute axial abutments for said; ring ext'endin'ginwardly up to a short distance of said sleeve;

ly clamp the same around said'sleeve atrest. I

,Other objectsand advantages of the {invention will be apparent from] the following detaileddescription," together with thefaccompanying' drawings, i'gsubmitted for purposes of illustration only and notainten'dedf to define'* the scope of the invention, refere nce being had for that purpose to the subjoined claims. In these drawings;

, Fig. lis an axial'view of a combined' liquid and sou tact seal according to the in'ventionQshowing the Icon? tac'ti'sealin its operative".position (the'liquid'sealbeing higher than the external one.

not formed), in the case when the inside pressure is injoperativecondition, and t I f I Fig. 3 is an axial'view showing the seal according to the invention in the same conditions as in Fig. l, but when the external pressure is higher than the inside one. The combined sealing device accordingto in'veii tion has for its purpose to prevent leakage or fluidalong a shaft 1 journalled in a bearing 1"..and accommodated? through an opening 2' in a wall} of a c asingiaeither f from inside said casing in the case shown in Fig. 1, or" from outsidet'owards said casing, in th e'case shown in. Fig. 3, and this as well at rest as at any'speed-of rota-' tion of 'shaftfl.

In order ,to create a liquid seal capable of opposing 'said I E, leakzige when j'shaft ljrotates', there is provided inaboss 2a of wall'jl around shaft l a'liquid retaining "cylindrical chamber131coaxial with .saidsha'ft infwhich a proper" liquid maybe introduced through an inlet 7 and from which the excess of said liquid can be evacuated through w an outlet 8. This liquid is so chosen as to have a density higher than that of the fluid of which the'pressureis to be'sealed. An impelling member 5 is keyed. on shaft 1 to rotate inside chamber 13. The only possible leakagepath passes, through the, annular clearance between shaft 1 and the wall of opening 2 through chamber 13 andbetween shaft 1 anda cap 6 secured on boss 2a while, in said chamber. 13proper, said path surrounds the impelling member 5.

When the impelling member 5 is imparted with a sufficient speed of rotation, the liquid inchamber 13 .is, projected towards the periphery of said chamber under the action of centrifugal. force and forms an uninterrupted annular liquid seal between the periphery of the impelling member 5 and that ofichamber 13, as shown at 14.

The pressure in liquid seal 14 is a function of the. to-

tation speed of shaft 1. 1 I q According to the invention, in order to prevent leakages at rest (or more generally under a given rotational speed of shaft 1), the above-described liquid seal is com-' bined with a contact seal adapted to ensure tightness .be- Y I tween shaft, land wall 2 in, either possible direction-of said leakages under said rotational speed, while the friction of said seal is automatically suppressed when shaft 1 reaches said speed.

For'thispurpose, an axial sleeve 11 forcedly fitted 1 in opening 2' projects in chamber13. Around said sleeve A further object 'of the invention-is to use' the inner] spacelof the impeller "in whichthe 'sealingfrin'g is" thus, housed as a pressure chamber fed either withifiuidfron' the casing or with air from outside'for tightlyap"plyifng said ring against oneor the otherofzsaidaxial abutments; and to cooperate with the' elasticity 'ofjsaid-ring to tight- 1" "Fig. 2 is an axial view of the sealing device'or 1 showing thecontact se'alout' of duty with the liquidseal 11 is tightly fitted at rest an elastic ring member 10 rotatively fast with the impelling member 5 and tightly obturating (also at rest) the above-mentioned only possible path of leakage around the impelling member 5. Upon rotation of shaft 1, the elastic ring member is deformed under the action of the centrifugal force generated by said rotation and, in particular, its inner diameter increases, which suppresses contact between said ring and sleeve 11. Now, while being fast in rotation with the impelling member 5, the elastic ring 10 must remain free to be deformed under said centrifugal action. For this purpose, ring 10 is mounted freely in an inner chamber 9 formed in the impelling member 5 and it is made rotatively fast with the latter by means of pins 12 freely engaged in notches 12a provided for this purpose in the periphery of said ring.

Furthermore, according to the invention, the presence of said innerchamber 9 in the impelling member 5 is taken advantage of to use the fluid pressure to be sealed in such a manner as to increase the pressure with which said ring is applied around the sleeve 11, as well as to apply said ring tightly against the impelling member 5, these two conditions preventing fluid from leaking between said impelling member and said sleeve. For this purpose, said chamber 9 communicates, on the one hand, with the annular clearance between shaft 1 and sleeve 11 through an annular passage 10b and, on the other hand, with outside through an annular passage 10a. Furthermore, the two opposed annular walls 5a-5b of the inner chamber 9 each act as an axial abutment surface for the ring member 10, said surfaces extending inwardly up to the near vicinity of sleeve 11, thus preventing ring 10 to escape axially through passages 10a or 10b under the action of the pressure in chamber 9. Furthermore, when tightly applied on surface 5a, the ring member 10 interrupts the communication between chamber 9 and outside by obturating the annular passage 10a (position shown in Fig. 1), while when applied on member Sb (position shown in Fig. 3), said ring member 10 obturates passage 10b and thus interrupts communication between chamber 9 and the inside of easing 3.

It will be easily understood that the whole assembly is so designed as to ensure tightness at any speed of rotation of shaft 1 including at rest, either under the action of the contact seal constituted by the ring member 10, or by means of the liquid seal formed from a given speed of rotation of shaft 1. In other words, the sealing contact between ring 10 and the axial sleeve 11 must be suppressed under the ECtlOD JOf centrifugal force only when the latter has become sufficiently important to form the liquid seal.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the embodiment illustrated, nor otherwise than by the terms of the subjoined claim.

What is claimed is:

A combined liquid and contact seal between a rotating shaft and a casing wall through which said shaft is accommodated comprising, in combination, an annular space in said wall coaxial with said shaft, a stationary sleeve tightly fitted-in said wall, freely surrounding said shaft with an annular clearance and protruding in said space, an annular impelling member tightly keyed on said shaft and freely housed in said space to form with the wall of the same an annular passage of generally U-shaped cross-section, said impelling member being secured to said shaft beyond and spaced from the end of said stationary sleeve forming a clearance therebetween, means to fill said space with liquid to a level partly submerging said impelling member, an inner chamber in said impelling member having two opposed annular faces substantially right-angled with its axis,

an elastic ring housed in said chamber with a substantial axial clearance from one annular face and with a radial clearance from the inner annular wall of said chamber and surrounding said sleeve, and means to make said ring rotatively fast with said impelling member without imparting radial expansion thereof, said ring tightly fitting the sleeve while the shaft is at rest, and being radially expanded away from the sleeve when the shaft reaches a given speed ofrotation, rotation of the shaft at said given speed centrifugally disposing the fluid is sealing relation betweensaid impellermernber and the U-shaped passage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Warman Oct. 7, 1941 2,665,929 Sawyer Jan. 12, 1954 

